Character Studies
Jacob
Jacob & Esau (part 1)
The twelfth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis begins; “Now these are the generations of Ishmael,
Abraham’s son . . .” the nineteenth verse of the chapter begins “And these are the generations of Isaac,
Abraham’s son.” The word “Genesis” means “generations,” the book is a record of the generations from Adam to
Noah, from Noah to Abraham and from Abraham through Jacob’s sons.
The twentieth verse of the twenty-fifth chapter says that Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to be
his wife. After waiting this long to be married, Isaac no doubt wanted to start raising children right away. The
thirteenth through the fifteenth verses of this chapter indicate his half-brother, Ishmael, already had twelve sons.
Twenty years had passed and Isaac was sixty years old yet Rebekah was barren just as Sarah had been before her
and as Rachel would be later. These delays in providing the heirs to the promises of God weren’t because these
women were frail and unable to bear children but because these families were working on God’s timetable. As
stated in the last lesson, the Lord was working patience and faith into the lives of these people. Isaac and Rebekah
had to recognize, just as Abraham and Sarah had, that the chosen seed was a work of God rather than the regular
process of nature.
There is considerably more space given to the personal lives of Isaac’s father (Abraham) and his son (Jacob)
than to Isaac himself. Almost half the book of Genesis deals with Jacob and the time period in which he lived.
Near the end of his life, Jacob was brought before Pharaoh who asked how old he was, “And Jacob said unto
Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days
of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the
days of their pilgrimage” (Genesis 47:9). “Few and evil” or, in other words, he has had some hard times during
his life. These struggles began even before he was born.
Genesis 25:21-26
21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him,
and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to
inquire of the Lord.
23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated
from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the
younger.
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called
Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Isaac didn’t take matters into his own hands concerning the barrenness of Rebekah, he intreated the Lord. The
word translated intreated is “athar” and the root meaning is to burn incense in worship but the word as used here
means prayer or to plead. The wording here is significant, he intreated the Lord for his wife. Sometimes the best
thing a husband or wife can do for their spouse in time of trouble is pray. While Isaac and Rebekah wanted
children, there was also the matter of the heir needed to fulfill the promises of God—so Isaac prayed.
After Rebekah conceived, she began having problems and so she prayed. The word translated inquire is
“darash” and means to seek or ask, specifically to worship. Isaac’s prayer was a request while Rebekah’s was a
question—both are legitimate prayers. Rebekah’s concerns arose because she had twin boys and they were
struggling even before they were born. Her question was “why am I thus?” or why is this happening?
In response to her prayers, the Lord gave her a prophecy. The reason for the struggling within her is that she had
two nations in her womb. She was also told that one would be stronger than the other and the elder would serve the
younger. The younger being chosen above the elder has already been displayed in the book of Genesis. Cain, the
older brother, was rejected while Abel was accepted. Isaac was the heir of the blessings over Ishmael his elder
brother. This is to show the blessing was not a natural right such as the right of the firstborn son. God’s blessing is
extended to those who have no other claim or right to it. Jacob received what he didn’t deserve just as today we
have received salvation that we don’t deserve.
When the boys were born they were different. Esau came first and it is noted that he was red (meaning the hair
and/or complexion was red) and hairy. How hairy was he? Very hairy, when Jacob later deceived his father into
thinking he was Esau he had to put goat skins on to simulate Esau’s appearance. No description is given of Jacob’s
appearance. The only statement made is that he was holding on to Esau’s heel when they were born.
Genesis 25:27-34
27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man,
dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was
his name called Edom.
31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his
way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
The brothers were different when they were born and they continued to be different as they grew up. Esau was
what we might term today as a man’s man. He was a hunter and a man of the field. He is the type that would be
driving a 4x4 pick-up with a gun rack in the rear window with deer antlers as the hood ornament. Jacob was a plain
man. The word translated plain is “tam” and means gentle or pious. Esau was boisterous while Jacob was quiet.
Verse 28 gives an important statement: Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. It is said that Isaac loved
Esau because he ate his venison; no rational is given for Rebekah’s love for Jacob. This is a sad situation because
after Isaac and Rebekah had prayed so hard for children they then chose one over the other. No doubt they each
loved both boys; they just had one that they favored. This could have been the reason Jacob strove so hard to gain
the birthright.
One day, Jacob was cooking some soup or stew (pottage means something boiled) and Esau came from the field
faint (weary). We don’t know where they were when this episode happened but evidently they were away from
home and other people who could have fed Esau. Some have speculated Jacob had flocks of sheep and this was a
camp for his shepherds. Jacob would have been in charge of the camp and have the say as to whether Isaac got fed
and he would have witnesses to any agreement made between the brothers.
Esau desires food and asks Jacob to feed him. The word for feed me is “laat” and means to swallow greedily or
to gulp down—he needed a hungry man dinner. He asked for the red pottage, therefore his name was called Edom
since that was a form of the Hebrew word for red.
Jacob makes one request before he serves the meal “. . . Sell me this day thy birthright.” It seems Jacob had
been planning something like this for some time. Perhaps he had fed Esau before under similar circumstances and
just needed the right time to do this. Esau was, as it were, starved to death and saw no benefit to having the
birthright. Then Jacob made him swear that he would give up the birthright and Esau swore. The cunning hunter
had fallen into the hunter’s trap.
We might wonder why the birthright was so important to Jacob. The twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy says
the son with the birthright (usually the firstborn) received a double portion of the physical inheritance. The
birthright also included spiritual blessings in that the son became head of the family and the spiritual leader upon
the passing of the father. In the case of these two brothers, the birthright determined who would inherit the
covenant God made with Abraham and renewed with Isaac concerning the land, the nation and the blessing to all
the families of the earth.
The thirty-fourth verse is a sad commentary on Esau, “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles;
and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way.” It seems this may have been a casual encounter to
him.
Esau comes to Jacob and says, “I’ve been hunting all day and didn’t get anything, I’m famished. That stew sure
smells good; get me a bowl of it.”
Jacob says, “Okay, but first sell me your birthright.”
“Sure, just get me something to eat.”
After he eats, Esau gets up and goes on his merry way.
Esau’s attitude is summed up in the final words, “. . . thus Esau despised his birthright.” The word despised
is the same as our word contempt which means a lack of respect or reverence for something or someone. The New
Testament gives us the reason he despised his birthright, “Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as
Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Hebrews 12:16). The word profane is derived from the
Latin word “fanum” which means “temple” and the Latin prepositional prefix “pro” which means before. This
referred to a plot of ground in front of the Temple. All the things inside the Temple were dedicated to God, but
this, being in front of the Temple was not dedicated to God. So the word signified things that were secular.
At this time, Esau was not an evil person, he was not a lawbreaker but he cared nothing for spiritual things.
There are people all around us, even in our families that are just like Esau— they are profane people who care
nothing for Christ or Christianity. The passage in Hebrews is also talking to the church warning about failing of the
grace of God and defiling others. So, Christians can also be guilty of being profane people.
Esau gets a condemnation for despising his birthright but Jacob is not condemned for his actions here. It could
have been because Esau was not deceived in this instance, he knew what the birthright was and he didn’t care about
it. Martin Luther also brought up the point that this wasn’t a valid transaction anyway because Jacob was buying
what was already his and Esau was selling something that didn’t belong to him.
Buying the birthright was a piece of cake (or a bowl of pottage); the twenty-seventh chapter shows that
acquiring the blessing was more difficult.